Credit institutions headquartered in these financial centers will not be bound by restrictions on to foreign ownership or foreign investment conditions when providing services there or across borders.

Hanoi is advancing its efforts to integrate technology into urban management by expanding the pilot program for cashless parking payments throughout the city.

One of the key priorities for the banking sector is to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), as they generate a large number of jobs and contribute significantly to the economy.

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has so far this year taken actions to better direct loans flowing into production, business and prioritized sectors, aimed to support firms.

Mr. Nirukt Sapru, CEO of Vietnam and ASEAN and South Asia Cluster Markets, Standard Chartered Bank, explains in detail to Hanoitimes’ Ngoc Lam the bank’s decision to divest its entire stakeholding from ACB.

Vietcombank’s consolidated pre-tax profit in 2017 reached VND11 trillion (US$485 million), a sharp increase of 32.9% over the last year and 16% higher than the target, making it the most profitable bank in the Vietnamese banking sector.

VietinBank’s consolidated pre-tax profit in 2017 reached VND9.2 trillion (US$405 million), equivalent to 105% of its annual target, making it the second largest bank in Vietnam in term of profit, after Vietcombank.

HSBC was named as top trade finance bank in Vietnam and on global scale, according to the 2018 Euromoney Trade Finance Survey.

Credit card holders are not allowed to withdraw cash worth more than VND30 million for foreign currency per day.

Many banks have decided to set up more branches and transaction offices right in early days of the year to seize new business opportunities.

Standard Chartered has transferred its entire 154 million stakes, or 15% capital in Vietnamese Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) to other investors, bringing a 12-year strategic alliance between the two parties to an end.

French international banking group BNP Paribas sold its entire 74 million shares holding in the local Orient Commercial Bank (OCB), or 18.86% capital, ending a 10-year strategic alliance between the two banks.

The banking sector has committed to the Prime Minister for an additional reduction of 0.5% in lending rates as of January 9. As such, Vietcombank is the first bank realizing this commitment.

The foreign exchange reserves reached the all-time high of US$ 53 billion, an increase of US$ 8 billion compared to the last December.

In 2017, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has implemented the monetary policy flexibly as part of the effort taking the GDP growth rate to a 10 year high of 6.81%. In 2018, the loan growth is expected to be maintained at 17%.

The target for Vietnam’s stock market capitalization by 2020 is 70% of GDP. However, the Ministry of Finance informed that Vietnam’s stock market has achieved this target in 2017.

​2017 is considered as a successful year for the stock market with VN-Index increased over 40% to nearly 1,000 points. This is one of the main reasons for banks to go public.

Vietnam`s Ministry of Finace put it in the latest proposal on tax amendment.

This was the statement from the Minster of Finance Dinh Tien Dung on the first trading session of the stock market in January 1.

According to the Hanoi Taxation Department, Hanoi aims to collect 218.27 trillion VND (9.6 billion USD) for the State budget in 2018, a rise of 20 percent against the previous year.

Vietnam’s foreign currency reserves are at an all-time high of approximate US$52 billion thanks to the country’s stable macroeconomic conditions and strong influx of exports, foreign direct investment (FDI) and remittance, according to State Bank of Vietnam (SBV)’s Governor Le Minh Hung.

Mid to long-term credit growth is in the declining trend after strong growth in period 2013 – 2016.

The insurance market has maintained a high growth rate of 21.2 per cent in 2017, gaining a total revenue of VND105.61 trillion (US$4.65 billion), said Pham Thu Phuong, deputy director of the Ministry of Finance’s Insurance Supervisory Authority (ISA), said.